


Boys Who Cry Pearl and Sea

by BornofFlame



Series: Sanders Sides One Shots [39]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Pirate, Flying Dutchman, M/M, Mer AU, Sirens, i wrote a sea shanty for this, roman is a siren, virgil is a sailor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-02
Updated: 2020-11-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:47:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27346063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BornofFlame/pseuds/BornofFlame
Summary: Virgil Tempesta was born at sea.That may be the reason why he's never felt at home on land.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders
Series: Sanders Sides One Shots [39]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1878814
Comments: 7
Kudos: 92





	Boys Who Cry Pearl and Sea

**Author's Note:**

> hello, welcome back to the flying dutchman au  
> I did write a whole ass sea shanty for this, it can be found on the blog, whereisstevethestove on tumblr, along with an audio file of what it sounds like being sung.

Virgil Tempesta was born at sea.

His English mother was traveling from her home in London to join her merchant husband in Cuba, but by the time that she arrived, her son was nearly a month old, and strange, with storm grey eyes that seldom blinked. He grew up mostly indoors, there not really being any other children his age that his family would let him socialize with.

Virgil himself was an odd child, quiet, and when he turned ten, his father sent him to another sea captain for an apprenticeship.

_ The Windborne _ was a young ship, not even five years old, and the captain was quick to shove the pale boy belowdecks, for a child has no place among a crew of men. Virgil spent his first year feeling like an outcast, a stowaway on a ship he was technically part of. 

That was of course until they found out that Virgil could squeeze himself into small spaces, and climb faster than anyone else on ship. He also seemed to need less sleep, so they started to put him on the night watch as months passed.

Virgil didn’t mind. At least it gave him an excuse to hum the shanties that the others sang as he stared at the dark water that was reflected with stars.

He was fifteen when something interesting finally happened during one of his watches.

_ “There was a boy, Icarus~” _ The haunting melody stretched over the water in the secluded cove that they were anchored in and Virgil leaned a bit more over the side of the ship as he strained to hear the song.

“You pronounced Icarus wrong.” Virgil called out and the song stopped.

“How do you pronounce it then?”

Virgil pursed his lips before answering. “It’s not I-Car-Us, it’s all one beat, kinda like:  ǐːkaros.”

“Oh.” The voice seemed confused.  _ “There was a boy, Icarus, who flew too close to the sun-” _

“That’s better.” Virgil smirked as the voice sputtered in annoyance.

_ “His wings were made of brass and wax-” _

Virgil listened as the voice sang about the greek myth, before abruptly hopping topics to sing about a sailor’s myth, the Dutchman. Virgil wasn’t one to believe in silly legends, but the voice was nice and it made him feel lightheaded in a good way, so he continued to listen as the second chorus faded out and the voice switched verses again.

_ “There is a simple sailor boy, _

_ Not wanted by land nor sky-” _

Virgil stood up from his spot and looked over the water. “Woah, wait.”

“What?” The voice was definitely irritated now.

“Simple? That’s all you can think of to describe me?” Virgil teased as some of his hair fell into his face.

“Uh... to be honest, I thought you’d be drowned by now.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, the shanty only has two verses, I’ve been making the rest up.” The voice said sheepishly and Virgil heard a splash of something going into water. He watched as the dark water below rippled and a moment later, a red and gold blur shot out and landed on the deck next to him.

Virgil fell back onto his ass in shock. “Mermaid.”

The creature flashed him a grin. “Close, I’m a siren and I am a male by your kind’s definition., so not a mer-maid either way.”

Virgil took in the red and gold tail, the dark skin as he slowly looked the siren in the eyes.

“You’re  _ gorgeous _ .” He breathed out reverently and the siren’s fins on the side of it’s head flared in surprise.

“You are very pale and small.” He responded back, which broke Virgil from his reprise as he scrambled back up to his feet.

“Thanks, I get that a lot.” 

“Oh. I thought for sure you’d be taller standing. Hmm, okay.” The siren balanced himself on the railing better, looking at Virgil with curious eyes.

Virgil blushed, ducked his head and then looked back up. “So, how am I not dead?”

“Excellent question. I have no fucking idea.” The siren shrugged and Virgil nodded.

“Alright then.”

“Can I get your name pale one?” The siren asked as he leaned forward and Virgil leaned back. 

“Me giving you my name doesn’t do any weird shit- like I sell my soul to you, right?”  
“No, why would it do that? Is that some weird human thing no one told me about?”

Virgil rolled his eyes. “It’s a fae thing, I thought that since sirens are real, maybe they were. Anyway, I’m Virgil.”

The siren’s eyes widened. “You have a siren name.”

“Okayyy?”

“I’m Roman.”

“That’s an odd name.”

“Says the one who literally didn't know that my kind existed, despite having a siren name.” Roman shot back with a sharp grin.

Virgil smirked and gently shoved at the siren, who wobbled nervously.

“You should go.”

“Why?”  
“My watch is almost over. I want to go to sleep.” Virgil yawned and the siren shrugged.

“Alright. I’ll get you one of these times.” Roman said as he fell back, disappearing into the water.

…

Virgil didn’t see him for another year.  _ The Windborne _ traveled to many different locations and so it was rare for them to pass through the siren’s waters, and when they did, they didn’t stay the night.

So he wasn’t surprised when the song started across the water.

_ “I’ll sing you a song of ravens and stone--” _ Roman’s voice definitely had some bite to it and Virgil could feel himself slipping as he struggled to keep his mind clear.

_ “With the temper of a storm!” _

Virgil jumped into the water, fully intending on beating up Roman for being so fucking annoying.

What he wasn’t expecting was for arms to wrap around him and start dragging him down.

Virgil tried to elbow the person, mer(?) behind him, but the singing just intensified and his head felt like it was full of cotton….

…

…

…

Roman couldn’t believe that Andy had managed to snag Virgil the second the teen had jumped in.

His half brother was a force to be reckoned with though, and Roman watched as the lithe siren dragged the sailor out of the water and tested for a pulse.

“Aw, he’s still alive.”

“I asked for him to still be alive An.” Roman muttered as he looked at his human.

“I don’t know why you’re attracted to him. He’s awfully pale. And when there’s so many other options up there on that ship..” Andy trailed off once he saw the look in Roman’s eyes. “Oh, you see the pale on as a mate? You’re a mess, sing once you get your life together Ro.” 

With that, he left with a snap of a jet black tail slapping water. 

…

Virgil sat straight up and vomited, coughing as seawater exited his lungs and he shivered on the rock that he was somehow on.

“Are you okay?”  
Virgil threw up again and shook his head as someone gathered him up, pressing a hand against his chest.

“I’m sorry, I got worried because you stopped breathing.”

Virgil’s mind had cleared enough for him to look up through lidded eyes to see Roman looking at him with concern.

“What?” Virgil croaked out, voice absolutely ruined by the seawater that he had ingested.

“Uh, you jumped overboard, my half sibling brought you here and then I pulled the life back into you.”

Virgil vaguely remembered jumping over, but after that…

He passed out again.

…

Roman was not expecting humans to be so fragile. Virgil had indeed become unresponsive after throwing up, but now he was asleep again, with no warning at all.

At least the sun was coming up, so it would be a bit warmer. 

He just had to hope that Virgil’s ship wasn’t leaving, or else Roman wasn’t sure what he’d do. This was supposed to be a fun interaction, not him watching an almost corpse.

Unfortunately for him, the sun rose,  _ The Windborne _ left the cove, and Virgil slept.

Roman wasn’t sure how he was going to admit to his human that his only way back home was gone.

…

Turns out, Virgil was fucked.

He woke up and realized almost immediately that his ship had left and the first thing he did was try to sneak off the rock that Roman had stuck him on, so that he could swim to the shore and try to work out his life then.

He didn’t notice that Roman was on the rock also, until the siren grabbed his shoulder.

“Where are you going, the ship is gone.”

Virgil hissed and recoiled, falling into the water before surfacing to curse at Roman. “What the fuck?”  
“Sorry! I assumed that humans could hear when someone is coming up on them!”  
Virgil hissed again and scrambled back onto the rock. “I wasn’t paying attention, and yes I know that the ship is gone, it’ll be another few months before they anchor back here.”

“A few months?”

“Yep. We had planned a few routes over the next year that come this way… I just have to wait out the storm, and I’m not doing it on this tiny ass rock.” Virgil went to slip into the water when Roman stopped him again.

“Let me swim you over, it’ll be faster.”

“Thanks I guess.”

Virgil watched as Roman slipped into the water and then swam around the rock to wink at him.

“Ready my raven?”  
“Oh, stars no. No pet names.” Virgil grumbled as he got in and wrapped his arms around Roman’s neck as directed.

“Ready?”

“You won’t drown me, right?”

“Of course not!”

“Okay, let’s go.”

Roman swam slowly, but still, it was faster than Virgil could’ve gone, so it was nice to hitch a ride in a sense as they made their way to the beach.

They finally made it to where Virgil’s feet could touch, and he quickly let go, wading through the water to collapse on wet sand.

“Are you okay?” Roman called from his spot in the water and Virgil stuck his head up.

“Oh yeah. I’ve been kidnapped by a siren, threw up my body weight in saltwater, haven’t eaten since almost two days ago, and now I’m here for a good long time, all alone! Don’t forget that if I don’t get some actual water soon, I’ll be a rotting corpse on this beach!”  
Roman was by his side faster than Virgil could comprehend, eyes flashing nervously. “Water?”

“What about it?”  
“You can’t drink seawater?”  
Virgil groaned and buried his face in his hands.

This was going to be a long three months.

Assuming he could survive for that long.

…

The first week was the worst. Roman had to watch as Virgil disappeared into the treeline, leaving for long hours, even though he had offered to provide for any of the sailor’s needs, after all, it was his fault that Virgil was stuck.

All the human had asked for was a knife though.

He built an odd structure on the shore, and Roman watched as he (unsuccessfully) fished, and got sick from being in the sun for too long the second day.

By day eight, Virgil was screaming at the sky to just hit him with some lightning.

Roman was impressed that his human had even made it that long.

By night nine, he finally had the courage to go back on shore. Virgil was laying on the ground, staring at the stars, seemingly distracted, but his eyes did flit over to Roman as the siren adjusted his tail and also lay back.

“Are you okay?”  
“No. I miss people.”

“Ah.”

They lay there in silence, and it wasn’t until Roman looked over and he saw the streaks of silver running down the other’s face that he realized something was wrong. He sat up and scooted closer to Virgil, gently wiping at the strange stuff.

“What is this?”  
Virgil blankly looked at him, still not moving. “Tears.”

Roman brought the ‘tears’ to his face. “Weird. They look… wrong.”

Virgil sniffed and sat up, wiping at his face with a torn sleeve. “Why is that fish?”  
Roman looked at the ‘tear’ again. “It is a liquid.”

“Are you implying that tears aren’t made of saltwater?” 

Roman sniffed the tear and realized that Virgil was right. It smelt like ocean. “You cry the sea when you are sad?”

“I guess.” Virgil sniffed again and Roman sighed before putting a finger to the corner of his own eye, quietly shedding a pearl as he cried.

“I do too. Perhaps we are not as different as we like to say.”

…

The dynamic changed after that. Roman started to bring fish, which was a godsend in Virgil’s opinion, and in exchange, he’d tell the siren about something from his world, or he’d teach him a new shanty to sing.

And as much as he denied it, Virgil fell in love.

It wasn’t a major revelation in a sense. It was about a month into his stay and he looked up and remembered that it was his birthday.

Hurray, seventeen years on this earth. He hadn’t told the siren, who didn’t understand the concept of age, and even though Roman certainly acted like he was Virgil’s age, he had told him once about the first time his pod had moved, and it was because the first merchants were sailing into the area.

So yeah, his siren, wait, when did he start considering Roman as his siren? Virgil shook his head, trying to clear it of the traitorous thoughts as Roman came in with the gentle waves, grinning.

“Hello my stormy night!”  
“No nicknames!”

…

Roman was in love.

Deepy, irrevocably, in love.

He was screwed.

Sirens only choose one mate, and it is always the first one that you fall in love with. No take back, so changing in the future.

The only problem was that he knew that Virgil didn’t love him back.

The different specie? Not a problem, many sirens fell in love with humans, and they could change their mate to be like them with a simple draw of blood. The fact that Roman was immortal and Virgil wasn’t. Fixed when turned into a siren.

Literally everything had a solution.

Except when your love didn’t feel the same way.

They were both on a rock one night, Roman and helped Virgil swim out, although the young sailor was surprisingly good, despite most at the time who couldn’t swim, and Roman had been caught up in the way that the moonlight framed Virgil’s face to notice that the human was addressing him.

“ _ RO _ .”

“Oh sorry, what?”

Virgil laughed before suddenly looking serious. “The ship will be arriving any day now.”

Roman deflated and looked away. “I know.”

“I have to leave.”

“I understand.”

“Part of me doesn’t want to, you know? Stay here for the rest of my short and pathetic life… but I don’t want to watch you watch me die..” Virgil trailed off and Roman saw that he was crying again, oddly reminiscent of their first night like this.

“What if you didn’t have to die?”

Virgil looked at him sadly. “I’m not like you Roman.”

Roman gulped. “I know, but you can be. There’s just one problem.”

“What?”  
“You’d have to be my mate.”

Virgil’s eyes widened and a blush spread across his face as he ducked his head to hide behind his longer hair. “Oh?”  
Roman nodded. “I know, it’s something that we take very seriously and I understand that you wouldn’t want to do it and--”

“No, I want to. Maybe not now, but in a few years? Yeah, it sounds amazing. All of it. Being with you… mates.”

Roman blinked at Virgil. “Really?”

“Really.”

Roman surged forward and kissed Virgil, wrapping his arms around the human’s waist, sparks flashing across his vision as Virgil kissed him back, all passion and quiet love.

It was his first kiss and Roman could feel it clear as day that the human was meant to be his.

When they pulled away, with Virgil gasping for air and Roman trailing kisses along his mate to be’s jaw, nipping at the skin.

“Seas below, I love you.” Roman whispered as he pulled away, looking into Virgil’s dark eyes.

“I love you too.” Virgil kissed him again and this time they didn’t break away for quite some time.

…

Virgil stands at the edge of the ocean.

_ The Windborne _ came into the cove about a week after he and Roman had claimed each other, the siren later marking him with a bite that scarred silver against the still pale skin.

Hell, Virgil really wished he could get tan.

Roman had also given him a gold coin, one that he was supposed to give away when he was ready to return, and then they would be ready.

Roman had promised to come back for him.

When Virgil boards the ship later, they’re overjoyed to see him alive. When they anchor for the night, he collapses in the barracks below decks, grateful to be sleeping in an actual hammock, rather than on sand or on stones.

When they sail out of the cove the next day, only he can hear the song that Roman sings in mourning of his mate.

Only he wants to jump back.

…

Years pass, three to be exact, before they sail by that cove again. Virgil meets Remus, a younger sailor that he teaches everything, despite sometimes wishing that the younger would just shut up and give him a peace of mind.

Remus is bold though, and he believes in mer. Virgil tells him about Roman, one day when they’re both in the crow’s nest and he doesn’t think that he sees anyone look so excited.

Of course, that is before he hears the song as they are sailing by, not stopping as night falls.

_ “I’ll sing you a song of ravens and stone-- _

_ With the temper of a storm! _

_ With those who sail the waters deep, _

_Calling the entire sea their home!”_  
Virgil doesn’t realize that Remus is allured by the song until he snaps out of his funk and drags them both below decks, defying his heart.

He gets sick.

Remus nurses him back to health.

A month later, he insists on being alone for night watch, and luckily they are anchored just outside the cove.

Roman still has that wild smirk and he still kisses with a passion that makes Virgil dizzy as his mate cuts their palms and presses them together, mixing human and siren blood.

Transformation doesn’t hurt.

Virgil lets Roman pull them both overboard and the first time he breathes in saltwater properly, he cries, his tears still made of sea.

“You haven’t changed a bit my love.”

Virgil laughs, his voice carrying the unrestrained power of a new siren. “Oh darling, but I have.”

His song is wild, just like a storm on the sea, free. It melds with Roman’s perfectly as the two harmonize, voices weaving sea shanties and siren lullabies as easily as a fisherman mends a net.

Virgil wonders if Remus can still hear a siren’s song. He may regret leaving the young boy behind, but he can take care of himself, after all, Virgil did as well.

…

Virgil Tempesta was born at sea.

Maybe that’s why he never felt comfortable in his own skin, why he was quiet for a child, taking in everything he saw. Maybe it was the siren name that his mother gave him, for she believed in the beautiful creatures that dripped with song. 

Perhaps it was like in Roman’s shanty:

_ Not wanted by land nor sky... _

**Author's Note:**

> kudos?  
> comments?


End file.
